Explain

Pronunciation

UK IPA: /ÉªkËˆspleÉªÌ¯n/, /É›kËˆspleÉªÌ¯n/
US IPA: /ÉªkËˆspleÉªÌ¯n/
Rhymes: -eÉªn

Origin

Middle English explanen, from Old French explaner, from Latin explanÄre ("to flatten, to spread out, make plain or clear, explain"), from ex- ("out") + planÄre ("to flatten, make level"), from planus ("level, plain"); see plain and plane. Compare esplanade, splanade. Displaced native Middle English arecchen, irecchen ("to explain, expound") (from Old English Äreccan, Ä¡ereccan).

Full definition of explain

Verb

To make plain, manifest, or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to illustrate the meaning of.

2012-03, w, Pixels or Perish, Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.

To explain a chapter of the Bible.
To give a valid excuse for some past behavior.

2013-06-07, David Simpson, Fantasy of navigation, It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in the basket a balloon: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; ….

(obsolete) To make flat, smooth out.
(obsolete) To unfold or make visible.

EvelynThe horse-chestnut is ... ready to explain its leaf.

Synonyms

(give a sufficiently detailed report) expound, elaborate